Gridlock News

I was watching a show in the science channel last night.  It was one of those doom and gloom types of scientific shows where some scientists get together and brainstorm about fantastic catastrophes that are certainly possible, but distinctly morbid.

This one covered the concept of a volcanic island off the coast of Africa that is about 16,000 feet off the ocean floor and 6,000 feet above the ocean.  Its built up by volcanic rocks that have been perilously stacked on top of each other over the years. 

Long story short, it looks like about 200 cubic miles of mountain are going to fall off the side of this volcano some day, any day and it could create a 200 foot tsunami that could wipe out most of the coast lines all around the Pacific (South America, North America, Africa, Europe and Antarctica). 

The idea that stuck

Well anyway as I was watching this show, I was looking for something positive to take out of the show.  They talked about how a volcano has very porous rocks and that these rocks hold water like sponges.  That's bad when they heat up as it jettisons steam and makes the volcano very unstable.

However, I've been to a more built up volcano before in Hawaii.  I thought to myself, that these porous water holding rocks might actually be a good source of water.  This could make Hawaii an even better place to live as it would give more access to fresh water if people could learn to squeeze the water out of rocks.  That could be a boon for Hawaii real estate and might make Hawaii something of a coastal safe haven if the Atlantic rim gets wiped out.

Now, I'm not suggesting anyone should short their East coast real estate today and move to Hawaii tomorrow.  However, the bucking of conventional wisdom in this case does kind of show that there is truly no safe place on the planet.  We live on a volatile rock surrounded by water and that we need to be ready to continue adapting.

As a side note if you are interested in learning more about Hawaii real estate, I'd recommend this real estate blog. 

By the way a giant tsunami of 130 feet hit in the late 1880's when Krakatau (krakatoa) blew it self to katmandu (well not that far, it really just ceased to exist, but the ash that went into the air, covered most of the planet and prevented the northern hemisphere from experiencing a summer).  You may be used to seeing 100 year floods, but how about 100 year volcanoes?